It is a new year, and now time to dismantle after the holidays.   But before you toss that greenery into your compost pile, there’s cause for hesitation.  A common evergreen used in many of our Christmas wreaths and swags could be harboring a pathogen every bit as destructive to the plant world as COVID has been to humans.

Boxwoods, once the darlings of every formal parterre garden have fallen prey to a pathogen (Calonectria pseudonaviculata) that has no known cure and can’t be controlled effectively.  Commonly known as Boxwood blight, it has devastated many mature gardens, including 150-year-old specimens at the Carl Sandburg home in Flat Rock. This fall, Henderson County Extension Agent Steve Pettis wrote an article about the severity of this pathogen.  (See https://henderson.ces.ncsu.edu/2021/11/boxwood-blight-2/)

To follow up on that article, it is important to note that if you’re discarding your holiday wreath containing boxwood sprigs, or have pruned your boxwoods for the season, it is a good idea to put these clippings in the garbage and dispose of them with your weekly waste.   Boxwoods can harbor this disease even when dried, so the best practice is to not introduce this pathogen through your compost pile.

Out with the old, in with the new.